Argentina's Failure Could Be Contagious

Default carries a political as well as financial cost

Updated Dec. 31, 2001 12:01 am ET

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Follow-Up: Full Basket

Financial markets barely noticed Argentina's long-expected Christmas Eve default on $150 billion in foreign debt. It marked the fifth time Argentina has reneged on foreign obligations since July 1827, when the City of Buenos Aires defaulted on a million-pound loan from Barring Brothers, which ultimately...